Betty Firth

As the rule of law is ignored by our out-of-control president, and his sycophants in Congress pass cruel, immoral, and irresponsible legislation to benefit the wealthy, I hear people saying, “I wish that…” or “If only…” or “What someone needs to do is…” I’m speaking to those people when I say, “Democracy is not a spectator sport,” but I believe most of us have treated it that way for a very long time. In recent decades, I haven’t been impressed with the level of awareness, participation, or organization of our citizens.
I grew up in a very livable, small, Midwestern town of 5,000, watching “Leave It to Beaver” and pretty much living in that frame of reference, surrounded by people who thought kids ought to behave, respect our teachers, work hard in school, and not bother our parents very much. We were told to go outside and play, and I’m pretty sure we thought it was our responsibility to entertain ourselves, which we were pretty good at, although sometimes crossing that line by doing things that bothered our parents. A fellow classmate commented in recent years that he thought we may have grown up in the best time and place to be a kid. A lot of our parents drank a lot, but they still managed to instill some very solid values in us. I wasn’t aware of a lot of political talk around me, but I certainly absorbed the idea that elected officials ought to hold to a certain standard that people could look up to.
Obviously, our protected childhoods were not experienced by all children in our town or out in the world, and we were aware of that, at some level, recognizing our privilege as well as our responsibility to do well and to do good, to be good citizens. An ethic of volunteering was instilled at a young age. Our senior year, the advanced English class teacher asked us to write about what we felt we should do to be good citizens. One boy wrote that he felt he should run for president. I wish he had.
As was inevitable, our middle-class cocoons were infiltrated by the outside world. Remember, we had no internet and limited television channels, so we were not immersed in the barrage of information that we are today, but we were exposed to waves of trauma, fear, and reactionary, irrational behavior such as the threat of Communism and nuclear war. I had just turned 18 in November 1963, when President Kennedy was assassinated, rocking the country. We mourned the loss of this young, inspiring leader who urged us to ask what we could do for our country. On April 3, 1968, Martin Luther King was assassinated, and two months later, Senator Robert Kennedy was shot during the presidential race. The modern civil rights era and the Vietnam War spanned the mid-50s to the early 70s. It was the first war to be televised, changing our perceptions forever, and the first war the U.S. lost. Strife, violence, and uncertainty were interwoven in our lives as we pursued education, jobs, and relationships.
Speaking to the sanitation workers on strike in Memphis the night before he was killed, Martin Luther King said, in what came to be called his “I have been to the mountaintop” speech,” he reminded listeners that only when it is darkest can we see the stars. He said that given the ability to live in any time on Earth, he would choose the time he lived in, saying, “…something is happening in our world everywhere. The masses of people are rising up saying, ‘We want to be free.’”
From my observations, I would suggest that it has to get dark and scary before we recognize the value of what we might be losing and decide we’d better get up off our sofas and do something. Unfortunately, this is often typical of human behavior: the pain or discomfort of doing nothing has to outweigh the pain or discomfort of change.
My generation has been out in the streets throughout our lives protesting senseless wars that cost us dearly in lives and money, started by political lies to fool the public: Vietnam, Desert Storm, Iraq, and Afghanistan as well as the covert wars that were never acknowledged. We have been out in the streets protesting for civil rights for all human beings. We moved on into our lives, and some said we sold out and disappeared. That might have been true for some, but many of us were working from the inside to make change, in businesses, education, health care, government, and nonprofits of all kinds.
Now we’re back out on the streets. I don’t know if anybody was really prepared for the enormity of what the Trump administration has been perpetrating, even those who have been paying attention to the strategic legislation and tax cuts ongoing since the Reagan era, which has repeatedly favored the upper tax brackets, removed limitations of spending for candidates, redefined corporations as people, gerrymandered districts, and tried to making voting more difficult for groups likely to favor Democrats. Project 2025, the planning document for all that is happening today, was available for anyone to read, but most people were not ready to believe it.
As shocking as the ongoing actions are, this is not the time to respond with despair, but rather the time to convert your outrage into focused energy to fight back. If you believe democracy is worth fighting for, then act like you believe it. If you think human and civil rights shouldn’t be trampled on, then let your actions show it.
We have had a lot of positive changes in our country and our culture, and life has been good to many of us for a good long ride, so we’ve gotten a bit soft and quite a bit spoiled. Are you asking what you can possibly do? Here’s the key: We need to get progressive candidates in office. We need to take back Congress and the presidency. We need to replace Pete Stauber with someone who will actually work on our behalf.
And here’s the thing: this is going to take work, and we need to start now getting very good at what we need to do, not a few months before the election, so I have a suggestion. Take out your planner or your cell phone calendar and plug in time every week – or even some every day – that you’re going to work to get your country back. No time? Either figure out how to be more efficient or be ready to sacrifice just a bit. Maybe give up one pickleball morning a week and spend that time calling elected officials or writing postcards to swing state voters. Spend fewer hours on the golf course or the four-wheeler and dive into a training session or two online. Have a house party and tune into a Zoom call or webinar from Indivisible, MoveOn.org, Working Families Party, People Power United in Minnesota, or go to a demonstration or rally. You can find listings here at https://www.mobilize.us. Going to Virginia, Duluth, or anywhere else to shop or visit? Check mobilize.us for events, coffees, trainings, and calls with state and national leaders in that area. Spending a weekend on the Shore? Join the groups signing and meeting in Two Harbors, Silver Bay, and Grand Marais.
Our strength is in our connections and our numbers. Join our local Indivisible group by going to elyindivisible.org, and get connected with and inspired by people who share your values and desire to make changes. Jump in to work on the issue you’re most passionate about. The masses are rising up today to be free of the would-be dictator king and his fools.